ASSIGNMENTS (don't reply to this thread)

MAIN ASSIGNMENT

Choose a scene from your WiP where you want to increase the suspense. Maybe you have written ascene which should be exciting and scary, but isn't. Maybe your critique partners have flagged a particular scene as dull and lacking hooks. Maybe your scene is fine as it is, but you want it more suspenseful still. Use this assignment to revise that scene. If you prefer, you can use this assignment to write something new.

Write a sentence orparagraph (10-250 words) in which the protagonist enters through somekind of door on the way to danger.

Send in just that section - not the whole scene or the complete novel, please, because I won't have time to read them. I want to read really just the paragraph describing the door and showing the character walk through it, not the paragraphs about what the character did earlier and how he or she came to be at the door.

OPTIONAL ASSIGNMENT FOR EAGER LEARNERS

Find some doors. Open and close them, listen to their sounds, observes how it feels to walk through. You can do this with any door you encounter this weekend: the sliding doors of the grocery shop, Aunt Mabel's garden gate, your lover's bedroom door, the trap door to your attic, the entrance to your church. Perhaps you're even lucky and get the chance to observe doors in unusual places - a sightseeing tour of old castles or a prison visit.

Keep a notebook and pen with you and jot down notes. Write a sentence or paragraph for each, describing what the door looks and sounds like. This doesn't need to be polished writing, it's simply note-taking for future writing projects.

Having a file of door descriptions will be useful for future writing projects. I have a collection of two hundred, and I use them all the time in my stories. I also replenish them frequently.

Send in your door descriptions, whether you have just one or two dozen. The more, the better. Let's see who has most.

SENDING IN THE ASSIGNMENTS

Don't post your assignments to this thread. I'll create a separate thread for your assignments. This will help me see at a glance who has handed in assignments and which assignments I still need to give feedback to.